Biden spars with Republicans on border security
The Vice President of the House Select Committee on the State of the Union (Second Edition): Reply to Biden, Trump, and the White House
President Biden’s State of the Union address drew a contrast to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
The president leaned into the issues that energize his base, like abortion and gun control, and tax hikes on the wealthy. He tried to challenge the Republicans in the chamber and Trump outside of it on certain issues where he faces skepticism from some independent and suburban voters.
He derided Donald Trump early in his speech without mentioning his name, and criticized those who did not heed Putin’s threat to remove him from office.
The president referred to policies or comments from “my predecessor” more than a dozen times, making it clear the high stakes televised speech was his campaign roadmap for his rematch with Trump in November.
The president, who is 81 years of age, had to clear a bar in order to appease some of his own party that he is too old for the job of commander in chief.
He stuck mostly to his script, was energetic and appeared to fire up Democrats in the chamber, who occasionally chanted, “Four more years!” and jumped to their feet cheering the president.
In the front rows of the Supreme Court are six justices, with the president critical of their decision to overturn the landmark abortion case. As he warned that “history is watching” how the U.S. handles alliances abroad, and supports Ukraine, he warned about “another assault on freedom.”
Biden again, didn’t mention Trump by name, but blamed him for derailing it, “I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. It would be a political win for me and a political loss for him.
He ticked through how a host of red states have restricted access to reproductive health services — warning about the latest law in Alabama that effectively banned in-vitro fertilization. Kate Cox is a guest with the first lady. Cox was unable to have an abortion in Texas because she had a fatal Fetal Conditions Fatality when she was pregnant.
Biden warned the GOP that they would win again in 2024 when reproductive freedom would be on the ballot.
He also promised to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land — something he will need a Democratic House and Senate to achieve, which is not likely after the 2024 election, when Republicans are favored to flip control of the House.
The political symbolism of the power of women for Biden’s campaign was also visibly on display in the chamber. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers donned white and sported buttons emblazoned with a slogan “fighting for reproductive woman.”
Democrats needed Biden to convince voters that he was able to do the job in this speech, especially in swing seats. The economy was the issue they wanted him to highlight.
Donald J. Biden: The Case for a Fair Border Addressing the State of the Union and the Case against a Bipartisan Plan
He said that when Trump was in office, the state of the country was worse due to the flu, isolation and loneliness which led to millions of deaths.
When Biden wasn’t calling out Trump’s record in the White House, he outlined his own. He pulled out statistics about real world projects that are funded through his top legislative accomplishments — a heath care and climate bill, which was passed without a single GOP vote, and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Biden took credit for lowering prescription drugs, and capping the cost of insulin for seniors on Medicare to $35 a month. He said in his second term that he would extend that cap for every person who needed diabetes care.
He looked into the cameras to those watching at home and asked the political question designed to relate to most Americans, “For folks at home, does anybody really think the tax code is fair?”
The president and his advisers knew they needed to detail how they were going to address the situation on the US- Mexico border in order for the State of the Union speech to be a success.
Republicans screamed for Biden to “say her name”, referring to Laken Riley who was killed last month. An undocumented immigrant has been charged with the crime.
“I’m told my predecessor called members in the Senate Congress and demanded they block the bill,” Biden said. “He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him. It’s not about him or me. It would be a good thing for America.
The blame game over which party is more serious about the situation at the border is expected to be a leading theme through the fall. A strategy to flip the script and put Republicans on defense for blocking a bipartisan plan is one that will likely be replicated by candidates in competitive races.
Israel’s War against Hamas in Gaza: A State of the Union Address by U.S. Secretary of State John A. Biden
The families of those still held hostage by Hamas were acknowledged in the chamber’s visitors galleries by President Biden as he made his speech about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
His handling of the war has angered many progressives, and younger voters, who argue the president isn’t tough enough on the Israeli government. The fallout from his approach has cost him politically, and Democrats are concerned it could prompt some voters to stay home in the fall.
In Michigan, a significant bloc of Democrats upset about the president’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza, sent a message in the primary last week, with more than 100,00o registering a vote for the “uncommitted” option on the ballot, instead of for Biden. Many Super Tuesday states had the same goals.
In Thursday’s address, the president announced the U.S. military will build a temporary, emergency pier to facilitate the delivery of aid to civilians desperate for food and medicine. But he declared, “No U.S. boots will be on the ground.”
The president said that his administration is working on a cease-fire so that hostages can be released and more humanitarian assistance can be delivered. He stressed his long standing support of Israel and his visit to the country during the early part of the war. He said that the only real solution was a two state solution.
There is increasing pressure for an immediate cease-fire to materialize, and Biden, who recently predicted a temporary pause would be coming in a matter of days, faces calls from progressives in Congress to cut off military aid to Israel, and concentrate on humanitarian assistance.
Biden might have helped unify his own party on the need to support Ukraine. But the deep fissures when it comes to his approach to Israel, as the death toll of civilians mounts in Gaza, has been a regular flashpoint already in campaign stops, and shows no sign of fading.
Republicans in the House gallery heckled President Biden during his State of the Union address as he continued to attack Republicans for playing politics with the border.
Biden spars with Republicans on border security during State of the Union: “Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal, my heart goes out to you”
A new Monmouth University poll found that 53% of respondents support building a border wall, the first time a majority of Americans have backed the proposal since Trump launched his first presidential campaign.
Trump has made border security a central theme for 2024. He promised to start the largest domestic deportation operation in American history if elected.
During the State of the Union, one of his surrogates in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, wore a red cap with Trump’s MAGA logo on it. She also had a shirt that read “say her name.” She put the same logo on the pins.
Biden responded to the heckling by saying Riley’s name. In unscripted remarks, he held up the pin and forcefully repeated Laken Riley, though mispronouncing her first name.
“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” he said. “That’s correct.” But how many of thousands of people being killed by illegal. To her parents, I say, my heart goes out to you. Having lost children myself, I understand.”
Source: Biden spars with Republicans on border security during State of the Union
On the Implications of the New Mexico Security Proposal for a New World Wide Border Border Control Policy: Some Realistic Measures
He also listed some of the toughest measures in the proposal, including hiring 1,500 border security agents, 100 more judges and 4,300 asylum officers.
“It would also give me and any new president new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming,” he said.
